The other day Rod MacLean (“croghan27”), a beloved participant on the Bread and Roses board, and a frequent commenter at my place, was found dead in his Centretown Ottawa apartment.
He had emailed me just before my July 21 court date, expressing regret that he could not attend: having undergone some dental surgery, he was expecting to be woozy with meds.
Ya’ll get out there and knock ‘em dead now, Ya hear?
Oh … as per the latest series of posts .. from al Jazeera:
http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/did-social-media-oust-mubarak
We had been discussing—one didn’t exactly argue with Rod—the question of social media and the Arab Spring. Earlier in the month he had also taken me to task for using the word “Stalinist” in what he considered an inappropriate fashion.
Shortly after his good wishes, he succumbed. It was blisteringly hot, his place was not air-conditioned…who knows. Now he is our memories of him.
Rod never stinted in putting forward his principled political positions, nor did he shirk from expressing his comradely disagreements.
He was one of a kind. His generosity of spirit rightly endeared him to a wide circle of friends.
But what would become of his cat, Queenie?
The emails flew thick and fast, and in a matter of hours the cat was located (local humane society), AND contact was made with Rod’s next-of-kin (Chris MacLean, Rod’s son), AND the incomparable matttbastard and his partner and co-blogger Amy set out from London, Ontario to adopt her!
A group of bloggers, local and from out of town, gathered to celebrate Rod’s memory and to welcome the aforesaid mattt and Amy.
Much drinking and food ensued. The next morning was rough, at least for me, but we had a BBQ that evening to honour Rod and cheer on the adoption of Queenie, shown here with her adoptive mother:
As of this writing, the parents of Queenie are heading back to London, Ont., with their new companion.
Imagine the kind of organizing we could do with an even wider network of generous souls, agreed-on problems to solve and with this non-linear, non-hierarchical approach to things.
I have a glass of wine in my hand at this moment. Here’s to you, Rod, to your circle of progressive friends—and to Queenie.
And I’m not even a cat person. 🙂